After the Storm
by Cecelia Pemberly
Summary: James Norrington finds Gillette in horrible condition after the Dauntless is destroyed.


It was the darkest night that anyone had ever experienced. The only light seen were to bolts of lighting that came down from the heavens every few seconds. All of the crew and were working to keep the ship under control. Rain pelted against everyone's faces, making it near impossible to see anything. Commodore Norrington grasped the ropes to secure the sails. The waves rocked the ship that it would lean at a 20 degree angle.

Barrels and crates slid across the deck whenever the ship swayed. It was an oversized obstacle course. Due to the lack of tread on his boots, he would commonly find himself lying on the wooden deck, with his foot on the sail's pole to steady him self. Next to him was Gillette who was trying his best just to keep from sliding off the deck. When the ship would tip, Gillette would slide to the side, holding onto the rope for dear life.

"Why did we have to sail into this mess, sir?" Gillette shouted through the rolling thunder and crashing waves.

"I didn't mean to sail right into the middle of a hurricane!" James shouted back just before a wave came over the rail and washed him and Gillette to the opposite site of the boat. Both of them scattered to grab hold of the ropes while battling the element of slippery wood.

There was a growing rumble that seemed to be coming from in front of the men. All of the sailors started to scream, but James and Gillette didn't know why. Then over the railing and through the blinding rain, they saw a gigantic wave rising over the ship. The winds began to pick up in an extremely fast rate, and parts of scrap wood started to blow around the deck, one of which hit Gillette square in the forehead. The wave grew until it was as high as the crows nest, and it engulfed the ship, completely destroying the beloved Dauntless.

Everyone was swept into the water, and through the hollowing wind and waves, the Commodore still heard the ship creaking and snapping in half like a twig. Using what was left of his strength that wasn't used on trying to keep him on the ship; he struggled to grab hold of a panel of the deck that hadn't been reduced to planks. Once aboard, he ran out of strength and fainted.

When Norrington woke up, the waves had calmed. He looked out onto the sea with his eyes half opened to see if he could salvage anything. There was nothing…except for an unusual object floating just about 50 yards away. Norrington swam toward the unknown thing, and as he got closer, he realized that it was a man.

"GILLETTE!" James picked up his pace. Gillette lay limp with his eyes closed and mouth open slightly. James grabbed him from under his arms and dragged him onto the raft. He put his hand onto his stomach to see if he was breathing. Gillette's chest rose and fell slowly. "Oh thank god," he muttered to himself. It had to have been at least 5 hours since the ship went down, but somehow a miracle occurred, and the two friends had not been separated. From the look of things, they were the only survivors.

He felt Gillette's forehead. He was burning hot, even after being in the freezing cold sea for hours. There was a large welt in the middle of his forehead from the plank hitting him. Dried blood covered the right side of his face from his wound to the top of his eye. "It's amazing you're still alive," James said to himself, smiling.

James lay down on the wooden raft with his feet hanging off the side. Suddenly the planks began to shake violently. He looked over at Gillette, who was shivering even though he felt burning warm. The commodore took off his dry jacket and placed it over Gillette's body. His uneven breathing soon became normal. James grabbed Gillette's wig from the curls and slipped it off of his head, revealing locks of beautiful brown hair.

"I don't even know why I haven't tried to wake you up yet." James thought out loud. "But then again, I'm surprised that you haven't wakened up on your own. After me grabbing you from under your arms, dragging you onto a large piece of debris and then being exposed to cold sea air while in soaking wet clothing, I'd think that you would open your eyes at least."

James took his index and middle fingers together and poked the lieutenant on his chest. Each time, he would get a little harder, until he found himself stabbing Gillette with his fingers.

"What the…!" Gillette opened his eyes a bit and used his elbow to prop himself up a small ways. He used his other hand to rub his chest. "James, what the hell was that for!" Gillette tried to sit up, but he wasn't able too.

"You have been sleeping for at least 6 hours since the Dauntless went down, Gillette. So I started getting worried, so I woke you. I mean, you got hit in the head with a board and you are bleeding. Who wouldn't be worried?"

"James you know that I do have a real name. Use it." Gillette ordered.

James sighed. "You know that I hate it. But fine…Blake. It's a habit."

"Yeah that's what every person wants to hear, that someone hates their name."

"I haven't eaten anything in a day! I have been floating on a board for 6 hours in the hot sun, and I just lost my ship! What would you have said?" James noticed that he was giving a bit of an attitude to his best friend. "What's happening to me?"

Gillette looked up at the sky. "Where do you think that we are?"

"That is the hard part. I really can't tell." James looked over at Gillette. His head was rolling around and his eyes rolled to the back of his head and then back again. He gasped. "Blake? Blake!" Blake rolled over and threw up over the edge of the boat. First it was regular food/mucus. But then it was blood.

"BLAKE!" James started to panic. He grabbed Gillette's coat and tried he best to slip it off. He put the jacket over Gillette's mouth. He didn't know why, but he was in so much panic that he didn't know what else to do. He felt the raft rising from underneath. James found himself then tipped backwards. The whole raft tipped over and both of the men landed in wet sand. James looked up. They were in….Tortuga.

James stood up for the first time in hours. He swayed back a little bit and he knew that he was already turning into Jack Sparrow. Gillette was still lying in the water, throwing up into the jacket. He looked around the beach and through the chaos for someone who looked the least bit sophisticated. All he saw was a young woman wearing a light gown with an apron on, skipping stones into the ocean. He picked up Gillette and let him use him as a crutch. He was so weak that he couldn't stand up on his own.

"Excuse me miss? Is there a doctor in the town?" James asked.

"Yes there is," she replied. Gillette coughed up some more blood. "We better get there quick!" James took Gillette off of his shoulder and picked him up in his arms. He was a few years younger then James so he was a bit lighter. He and the woman ran through the town, dodging pirates left and right. They ran up a tall hill to a small shack. The woman opened the door.

"Leonard! We have an emergency case!" Gillette rolled his head over to look at the doctor. He had long black hair that looked like it hadn't ever been brushed. His teeth were yellow and full of holes. Yet he had no facial hair. His closed where fairly clean compared to those that he had seen on the way, but Gillette couldn't believe that he was a doctor.

"It looks like he just has a hangover."

"No Leo. He is-" Before the woman could finish her sentence. Gillette coughed up more blood.

"Oh my. Lay him on the table." James laid his fellow officer on the table. "What happened?" James told Leo the whole story. He told him that Gillette had been floating around in the sea for 5 hours before he had brought him aboard. He told him that he was burning hot when he came aboard. Everything that would help Leo figure out what was wrong, he told him.

"That's very sad. But I'm very sorry, because your friend here isn't going to live. If you had gotten him here about 30 minutes ago, he may have had a chance."

James looked over at Gillette. He was rolled his head to the side again.

"James you bastard." Blood started to pour out of his mouth. "You killed me…killed me…KILLED ME!" Gillette started to scream in pain. James's eyes grew wide. He started to shake with fear, as he watched him friend die and scream. "James…James…JAMES!"

"AAH!" James screamed. He looked around for a second to realize that he was in a Tortuga pub.

"James, you had that dream again didn't you. The one about what would have happened to me if we hadn't bee such great friends." James looked over at the still alive but wrapped in many bandages Gillette. "It's really amazing what friendship can do. But the best thing that it does is that it performs miracles. And that my friend…was a miracle."


End file.
